Universal joint



Patented sept. 9, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT,OFFIIE'.,

I UNIVERSALJOINT Robert Suczek, Grosse Pointe, Mich.

Application May 26, 1943, Serial No. 488,538

(C1. s4-212)l 4 Claims.

Thisvinvention relates to torque transmitting universal joints of thetype known as constant velocity joints, in which the speed ratio betweenthe driving and the driven members remains constant in all portions ofthe cycle of each rotation of the shafts, no matter what the relativeangular position of the members and their axes about which they rotatemay be.

My invention relates to such joints in which the torque is transmittedfrom one member to the other by balls, which move in meridian grooves,such grooves being preferably straight .and cylindrical, it beingunderstood however that I Ado not wish to restrict my invention tocylindricalgrooves only and that any kind of grooves may be used withoutchanging the scope of my invention. s

Contrary to the conventionally known joints of this category, I do notl'et the balls roll and slide in direct contact with the grooves. Iprovide, according to my invention, two sockets for each ball and letthe sockets .slide in the grooves, while the balls are allowed to turnin ball shaped cavities of their respective sockets.

It has been shown by experience that the speciflc or unit pressure onthe balls, of joints in which the balls are in direct contact with theirgrooves, is so great that the surface of the balls -and of the groovesis soon damaged, and that the ball instead of rolling will only glide.This condition of course increases the friction between the balls andthe grooves, the elciency of the joint soon drops and the joint becomesnoisy.

Thus the purpose of my invention is to preserve the life of the Joint bypreserving the contacting and torque transmittingsurfaces of the ballsand of the grooves, through reduction of the specific or unit pressures.

This unit pressure reduction I accomplish by placing the balls invsockets and letting the sockets slide either in cylindrical or angulargrooves, providing ample contact surface between the groove surface andthe sockets, while the ball is fitted on a spherical surface to its twosockets.v

Whereas, in the conventional ball joints the' balls contact the grooves,before the load is applied, in lines. only, and the necessary contactingarea. on the surface is generated by deformation of the ball and thegroove surfaces; while the required areas according to my invention arepredetermined and do not have to be generated by deformation of theballs. Thus according to my invention these areas are spherical betweenthe balls and their sockets and cylindrical or fiat vbetween the socketsand thegrooves.'

- My invention also consists in a newy shape of the ball cage. The ballcage has thepurpose to According to my invention I let the ball cagevglide on a spherical surface of the inner member,

butin order to be able to assemble the inner member,f ball cage andballs, I provide the segmental spherical cage with two circularopenings,of which only one, the larger one permits the inner member to be slippedinto the cage.

My invention further consists in the construction of a bell shapedspring for tending to press the cage or ball retainer against the innermember, and in the design of the seat of the spring in the other or theouter member where the spring has its reaction.

My invention also consists in'using a special spherical cap between thespring and the cage and in seating this cap on the cage in a, groove.which preferably may be V-shaped- With these and other advantages andobjects of my invention in view, together with means whereby the samemay be carried out my invention `consists in the arrangement,construction and combination of various parts of my new de'- vice andmethod of operation as described in the following specification, claimedin the claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which: y l

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section along lines i-I of Fig. 2 through anassembly of a joint according to my invention, in which the axes ofrotation of innery and outer joint members are in co-axial alignment (noangularity).

Fig. 2 is a cross section along lines 2-2 of y Fig. 1, partly in view.

. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of the joint in Fig. 1 with the axesof rotation of the two members inclined to each other.

Fig. fif'is a section through the two sockets in which a ball may beseated.

Fig. 5 is a part view of the ball cage (retainer) showing one of thecylindrical holes, which are l Member 6 is surrounded by the. ball cageor retainer I1, and to facilitate assembly, the cage has on its lefthand side a circular opening 'I6 which is larger than the diameter ofthe ycylindrical surface I3 of the member 6.

As will be seen from Fig. 2, members 6 and 1 are provided with aplurality of corresponding cylindrical grooves I8 and I9. Slidablyfitted within these grooves are sockets 29 and 2|. -The groove pairs I8and I9 are cylindrical as mentioned before and they have a common centerline and are parallel to the axes of rotation of the members 6 and 1, sothat they can be drilled in both members- 6 and 1 simultaneously in oneoperation, and they also can be finished in one operation common to bothmembers 6 and 1.

However my invention is notlimited to the cyi lindrical shape of thesegrooves I8 and I9; they could be square or rectangular, or polygonal oreven elliptical or the like. It is however obvious that the cylindricalshape of these holes has the great advantage that the holes can bedrilled and easily machined to the highest degree of accuracy to t thesockets 29 and 2 I.

The socket pairs 20 and 2I are provided with spherical surfaces 22 and23 fitting the outer diameter of the torque transmitting balls 24. v

`cal surfaces which may be made sufficiently large, by increasing thelength of the sockets, and on the other side it will be in contact witha ball surface and not only with a line of the surface as is the casewhen the-.balls are in direct contact with the members 6 and 1, as inthe conventional joint. i

It is obvious that the torque transmitting specic pressures between balland sockets and between sockets and the members are lower than is thecase if the sockets were left out.

The side of the cage I1'with the smaller opening 251s facing the member1 and carries an an nular V-groove 26. Fitting into this groove is aridge 21v of the cap 28, which cap is acted upon by the bell spring 29,tending to keep cap 28 and cage I1 in permanent contact in groove 26.

Spring 29 is provided with an annulus 3I fitting into a ring-groove ofthe member 1, and on its wider bell end spring 29 is subdivided intolips 32 by slots or cuts 30, in order to give the bellv shaped largerend of the spring resiliency and sufficient deflection which it musthave in order to act upon cap I39 within a certain desirable range ofits positions.

Cap 28 has a cylindrical opening 33 fitting over the central ball 34 ofthe pilot 35. One end of the pilot is journaled in a bearing 31 of theshaft 9 and the other .end 381s sliding in bore 39 0f shaft 9. Throughthe medium ofa sliding block 4I, spring l0 acts on the pilot pin 35,tending to keep the pilot end 36 in permanent engagement with bearing31.

The operation of the joint members is the same as in any other jointwith balls, cage, pilot, inner and outer member.

The movement of the sockets 28 and 2l in their grooves is illustrated inFig. 3, and this figure also shows the movem'ent of the sockets relativelto the ball 24. The pilot controls themovement of the cap 28 and of thecage I1, and the balls being located in the closely fitting holes 42must follow strictly the angular motions of the cage, while theytogether with their sockets move up and down in grooves I8 and I9. A

By transmitting the angular oscillating motions from the pilot tothecage and to the balls the sockets are forced to move and slide in thegrooves due to the fact that the balls are deeply inbedded in thesockets.

While performing the angular oscillating motions, the cap 28 glides onspring 29, and spherical surface I5 of the inner member glides on theinner spherical surface of the cage I1.

Whether the outer spherical surface of the cage I1 glides on the innercylindrical surface 43 of the oute'r member 1, depends on the radialclearance 44- between cage and outer member. It should beAunderstoodthat the cage does not need to be closely fitted within theouter member 1 to during the operation of the joint get into contactwith the cage I1. This is being accomplished by chamferlng the cornersof the sockets suitably as illustrated in Fig. 3 (socket 28) and by theclose lit of the holes 42 of the retainer I1 to the balls 24 and bylocating these holes strictly radial in relation to the cage.

What I claim is:

l. A universal joint comprising an outer member and an inner memberlocked together by balls' for rotation.the inner member having aspherical surface and the outer member a cylindrical surface. withtheinner member removably receivable within the cylindrical surface, acage for regimentation of the balls able to act on the balls fromaxially opposed sides and a bell shaped lipped spring reacting in theouter member for holding the cage in engagement with the inner member onits spherical surface.

2. In a universal joint comprising two members, torque transmitting'balls and a cage for the regimentation of the balls in their respectivegrooves provided in the members, and a resilient bell shaped memberprovided with lips, and means engaging the inside of the bell shapedmember and transmitting its resilient pressure to the cage tending tohold the cage in contact with one of the two members', each torquetransmitting ball being embedded in two sockets sliding with the ballsin the grooves of the respective members.

3. A universal'joint having two torque transmitting rotatable memberswith grooves for re- 76 ceiving torque transmitting balls'l'and,sockets,

a spherical ball retainer provided with cylindrical holes closely ttingthe balls, the grooves in the members being parallel to the respectiveaxes of rotation of the members and the axes of the cylindrical holes ofthe retainer being located radially with respect to the ball retainersspherical surface and the sockets for receiving the balls being formedon one side to closely receive the balls and on the opposite side beingcylindrical.

4. In a universal joint, two members having corresponding races forreceiving torque transmitting balls, a cage surrounding one of themembers for the regimentation of the balls in their respective `raceswhen the members rotate, and means acting on the cage and impartingthereto angular oscillating motions in harmony with the relative motionsof the two members, the cage being located on both sides of the ballsand a bell shaped spring tending to keep the cage in permanent slidingsurface contact with the surrounded member.

ROBERT SUCZEK.

REFERENCES CITED Great Britain 1920

